Asset Details
Do you wish to reserve the book?
Hot bodies; Cold War: the forgotten history of breast thermography
Hey, we have placed the reservation for you!
By the way, why not check out events that you can attend while you pick your title.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place the reservation. Kindly try again later.
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
Hot bodies; Cold War: the forgotten history of breast thermography
Do you wish to request the book?
Hot bodies; Cold War: the forgotten history of breast thermography
Please be aware that the book you have requested cannot be checked out. If you would like to checkout this book, you can reserve another copy
We have requested the book for you!
Your request is successful and it will be processed during the Library working hours. Please check the status of your request in My Requests.
Oops! Something went wrong.
Looks like we were not able to place your request. Kindly try again later.
Journal Article
Hot bodies; Cold War: the forgotten history of breast thermography
2017
Overview
Because surgery was one of the primary methods of cancer treatment during the mid-20th century, Lawson would frequently encounter patients with cancer in the operating room. His interest in breast cancer, specifically, seems to have been fully formed by the mid-1950s, when Lawson contributed a chapter on diseases of \"The Breast\" to the second edition of Fred Moseley's Textbook of Surgery.4 He also published a two-page article on breast cancer in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.5 In these works, Lawson drew attention to the rising rates of breast cancer in Canada, characterizing the disease as a substantial health problem for Canadian women from 40 to 60 years of age. Lawson's first foray into the field of diagnostic imaging took place in 1956, when he attempted to find a device that could accurately record the surface temperatures of the female breast. It was this search that led him to the field of infrared technology, an area that had been flourishing in the Cold War context of military weapons development. In February of 1956, Lawson read an article in TIME magazine that described the recent declassification of the Baird Evapograph, an infrared imaging instrument that had been used by the American Department of Defence in the development of heat-seeking missiles and \"night-vision\" surveillance systems.7 Inspired by this article, Lawson thought that this infrared technology could also contribute to the field of breast cancer detection, because it had the capacity to map temperature distribution over the body's surface. Although thermography is now regarded as an inferior practice by many Canadian medical communities, the thermal imaging device crafted by [Ray Newton Lawson] in the late 1950s did much for the development of modern techniques for the screening of breast cancer. Not only did it open the door for noninvasive methods for diagnosis of breast cancer, but his thermal imaging technology also facili- tated the development of better prevention, detection and screening techniques within Canada. Lawson's story also sheds light on how futuristic optimism, military modernization and increased interest in the radiation sciences affected the development of Canadian medical technologies.12 Rather than being remembered as a \"useless procedure,\" breast thermography should be remembered for what it was: a technology of the Cold War that, through medical optimism and technological tinkering, was transformed into a pioneering means of lowering the risk of canceramong women in Canada.
